High Tea At the Lovely Cheshire's House
by cheshirexpirate
Summary: One day, in the magical land of California more random characters than are ever necessary showed up at Cheshire's house. Whatever will she do?
1. Chapter 1

Prelude

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this but the non-existent plot.

One fine Spring morning, in several different realities, many different people received the same invitation. It read as follows:

You are cordially invited to a high tea at Cheshire Pirate's house.

Where: I believe I've already stated that.

When: Tomorrow afternoon.

Why: Because she darn well feels like it. So there!

You are not required to bring anything other than yourself, though if you play a musical instrument well, it would be mighty kind of you to play a jig. There's no need to RSVP; you will all be there whether you like it or not. Afterwards, you will be promptly brainwashed, so that you do not remember anything that happened and everything in your mind will be as normal as possible. See you there!

The note, despite being written in a friendly manner, frightened the soon to be guests but, knowing that they had to go anyway, they went to get ready.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One

The day of the party everything was a mess at Cheshire's house. You'd think that if she knew she was having people over she would have cleaned up a bit. YOU'D think that, but SHE certainly wouldn't.

"Jeezy Creezy! Why didn't I clean yesterday? Why, Why?!" was her mantra at the moment, and there was nothing to stop her from repeating it over and over and...over.

Not to worry, though, folks: it was eight o' clock in the morning. It would all be done soon enough.

"Can't go on...must...eat...and...watch TV..." she muttered at nine.

So, that's what she did. She took a little break...well, perhaps that's a bit of an understatement. She took a big break and watched some late night talk shows that she had recorded on DVR, and there were three, and, of course, they're all at least an hour, so...well, basically she sat there until noon, when she got up in a frenzy to clean the rest of the house.

"Ok, let's be somewhat rational about this," she said to herself. "What rooms will they be in and which ones will be unoccupied? Um, well, I definitely don't need to clean my bedroom (it's pretty clean anyway), and I highly doubt they'll want to go into the kitchen to serve themselves, so I'm going to leave this giant pile of dishes in the sink. I don't care if they see them. They won't go into the garage, but that's a hopeless case if you're going in there to clean. Laundry room: no. Backyard: as if I'm going to clean that. Other bedrooms: completely off limits. So, that leaves the living room (obviously), the "dining room" (which is basically the other side of the living room), and the bathroom (bugger). Well, it's not so bad; they could start arriving now, after all."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than there was a cloud of green smoke in her living room: out of nowhere! The cause was pretty easily figured out, though, as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger tried to untangle their limbs and get out of Cheshire's unbelievably small fireplace.

"What on earth is the point of having one of these if it's not big enough to fit in?" Hermione asked.

"Um, well, we muggles don't use floo powder; we drive cars and take buses and trains and planes. Oh, and we walk. In fact, we don't ever step into our fireplaces."

"Then we just won't come by this mode of transportation anymore," she replied matter-of-factly. "Um...what are you holding?"

In Cheshire's arms was a body pillow with brown pillowcases on it. If that wasn't strange enough, she was clutching on to it as if it was going to save her life from something. Hey! The giant green cloud had scared her. What would you have done if you were holding something.

"It's a body pillow. They're very nice, very comfortable. You should try one. I trust Harry is not in a bout of depression?" asked Cheshire.

"Nope, I'm fine," Harry said.

"Good. And you're rat is still Timothy Spall, Ron?"

"What?" asked Ron who was clearly confused.

"Um, what I meant to say was 'Peter Pettigrew'."

"Oh...yeah," he said, slightly sad.

"Okay, I'm not done cleaning, so if you could use some of your awesome magic cleaning skills, which I'm sure you have, then I won't have to do anything as people continue to make even more of a mess in my house by entering it."

"Oh, sorry," said Hermione, blushing as she looked at the giant mix of soot and floo powder on the floor around the fireplace.

"It's fine, it's fine, just clean it up, please," said Cheshire.

"Yeah, Hermione."

"Shut up, Ron!"

Cheshire scuffled away to clean the what she could of the bathroom, but then decided that the garage would be more fun. Still clutching her pillow, she went through the laundry room and into the garage, where she opened the door of the car sitting in there. She crawled into the back seat and was just about asleep when she heard a heavy thump from inside the house. Jumping up (and hitting her head on the car ceiling in the process), she ran inside and into her bedroom. Why? Because she was scared and wanted to hide. Did you really think that she would try to investigate?

Upon entering said room, Cheshire closed the door and leaned up against it, holding her pillow more tensely than ever. As she opened her eyes, however, she noticed what someone writing a normal "characters-from-your-favourite-movies-fall-into-your-house" fan fiction would call "something kind of weird". This phrase here translates to "there are freaking pirates and Royal Navy personnel in my bedroom, that cannot be right!"

"There are freaking pirates and Royal Navy personnel in my bedroom and that cannot be right!" Cheshire exclaimed.

Up until she had made her presence known, said pirates and Royal Navy personnel (two of each, just like Noah and the ark) had been arguing, not with one of the people who were different than them (i.e: one pirate to one RN person), but with each other. However, when they stopped and saw the girl who was staring at them from by the door, they immediately turned nice. Well, all but one.

"Hello, Cheshire, fancy meeting you here," said Captain Jack Sparrow.

"This is sort of my house, you know," she replied, easing up a bit.

"Nice to see you, lass," said Captain Hector Barbossa, giving her a grin.

"Yeah, wish I could say the same," said Cheshire, nervously.

"Thank you for inviting us, miss, though, I do object rather strongly to your supposed last name," said Norrington rather kindly (duh, he's a gentleman).

"Yes, I kind of figured that."

"I take absolutely no pleasure in being here," Beckett announced to the room.

"That's fantastic for you, dear, but you really don't have any choice," Cheshire said, obnoxiously.

Beckett just huffed and turned away from her. She didn't know why he objected to it so much. There was going to be tea. He loved tea. Two lumps with plenty of cream in a little tea cup with hand painted periwinkles, because he was a sissy, was how he liked it. And he would have his tea the way he liked it. It was the least Cheshire could do for all of the humiliation she supposed he would go through during the course of the party.

"Why don't you all just come out here?" said Cheshire, tossing her pillow back on her bed and opening the door. "You know, fresh air, light, cheery wall colour, and all that jazz, huh?"

They all marched through the doorway, Jack and Barbossa with some rather well concealed lines to Cheshire on staying in the bedroom. When they all emerged into the living room Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting on a particularly clean sofa in a particularly clean house chatting quietly. They looked a bit taken aback when the other four guests entered, but Hermione, being the sensible one, went ahead and introduced herself and her friends. Barbossa took the same liberty with his group and the two cliques seemed to get on well enough. Seeing as everything was fine in the main room, Cheshire decided to actually try to clean the bathroom this time. She had grabbed a rag and was wiping down one of the two sinks, muttering that they were fine anyway, so why was she making herself do this, when she noticed that there was visible air (otherwise known as steam) rising from her shower. She dropped the rag in the basin and pulled back her coral reef print shower curtain to see two figures who had tea cups and pots hanging from every free space. They were down their arms, on their ears, and on top of their heads or, in one's case, hat. There was a mouse peeking out from one of the largest, most ornate tea pots.

"Somebody said there was a tea party here?" the Mad Hatter said with a thick lisp.

"Yes, we brought our own donation!" said the March Hare.

"Our own donation..." repeated the Doormouse, fading to quiet from the first syllable.

"Yes, there is a tea party here. Just go all the way down the hall and the main room will be on your right. There are already some people here."

"Great!" they said in unison, and skipped away in the direction of the rest of the guests.

Cheshire only hoped that her other guests were all ready for all of the madness that was coming with those three. She had begun cleaning again when she heard shouts of confusion from the garage. There was a moment of hesitation and she contemplated not going to check out the noise and continuing with the counters.

"Ah, screw cleaning the counters," she decided, and hopped off, literally, to the garage or, as she sometimes lovingly referred to it the "bakehouse".

Little did she know how appropriate that nickname was for the room at the moment.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

When she stepped in she saw six similar looking people gazing at each other through the windows of the car. There were, in addition to them, four others, also staring at each other, but were not looking through windows and seemed to not at all enjoy being near each other.

"Oh! It seems I have some explaining to do," Cheshire said, drawing the attention of all occupants of the garage.

"Yes, I should say so," came a voice from behind her.

She turned around to see Jack munching on a giant pretzel with a questioning, but amused look on his face.

"Where did you get that?" Cheshire asked, indicating the pretzel.

"Snack drawer, apparently," he said. "Who's that person over there? He looks a bit like me, doesn't he? You know, except for the devilishly handsome part. But, I can't expect everyone to be as dashing as I am."

Cheshire moved behind him and pushed him into the "bakehouse", then, holding the door open with a pointed foot, she called, "Hector!"

"What is it, missy?" he answered.

"I need help, like, right now!"

"Alright, I'm coming."

She heard him get up and in a matter of seconds he was right next to her.

"Listen, I've got a rather complex and delicate matter on my hands and I need your help to keep things under control while I try to explain it.

"Let's get it done with, then," he said, taking the door from her and holding it while she walked out.

He followed closely behind her and shut the door after them. He was calm, cool, and collected...until he looked up, that is.

"There are doubles?" he asked in disbelief. Then he spotted Jack and Sweeney. "Not two Sparrows! I can't even handle one!"

"Oh, great! Now, I can't even count on you for support. What happened to you being solid and level headed, Hector?"

"Now, now, lass, I will be. It's just...odd."

"Yes, that is why I needed you to help me."

Cheshire walked slowly, carefully up to Bellatrix Lestrange who was opposite Mrs Lovett.

"Of course, I'm on the magical side of things," she said under her breath, and turning back to Barbossa she whispered, "You've got my back, right?"

"I have more than that if you want, missy," he said.

"Yeah...no."

She moved just slightly further from Bellatrix and settled herself, taking some deep breaths.

"So, Bellatrix, this is Mrs Lovett," Cheshire said, gesturing to the other woman. "She sort of looks like you because, well, the same actress played you both."

They both relaxed a little, but still eyed each other warily.

"And the same applies to all of you who feel like you have a twin." Cheshire said as she looked at each pair of people: Severus Snape and Judge Turpin, Peter Pettigrew and Beadle Bamford, and Jack Sparrow and Sweeney Todd. "You don't; they just kind of look like you."

"Bella, come here," said someone who looked like a mutant snake-man. Clearly, it was Lord Voldemort.

Bellatrix obeyed, obviously, and stood by him. He motioned to her, to do what, Cheshire didn't know.

"Dobby," she said. "give her the invitations."

She gestured to Cheshire and gave Dobby a little kick to get him to move along.

"Dobby is a free elf. Dobby can do what he pleases," Dobby said.

Bellatrix glared at the elf, as he walked of his own accord towards Cheshire and presented five cards. She took them and nodded to him.

"Thanks," she said.

"You too, Toby, dear," said Mrs Lovett coming to stand by Sweeney.

Toby ran forward and gave Cheshire three invites. She nodded to him, too.

"Right, now if everybody will just pass by me into the house, that would be great."

Everyone did as she asked them and moved through the door. As the Judge and the Beadle walked by the latter paused and, with a leer, handed her two cards. At the leer, Barbossa had put his hand on her shoulder in a protective gesture, so the man would leave her alone. Then, to be even safer, he stepped in front of Cheshire and blocked the Beadle's way to her. Beadle wasn't what was bothering her right now though. What bothered her was that there was no sound coming from the living room. This silence could not be good. She dashed past everyone who had recently entered to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione with their wands out and pointed at Voldemort, Bellatrix, Snape, and Wormtail. Dobby was poised next to Harry, ready to strike. Sweeney had Mrs Lovett bent backwards onto a wooden chest of drawers with his razor at her throat. He was holding Toby back from helping her by the scruff of his neck. The Mad Hatter had his hat over his head and was cowering in a corner, holding on to a shaking tea pot. The March Hare was hiding inside the Hatter's hat, just visible above the top, where there was a rip. Beckett and Norrington had pistols aimed at each other. Cheshire heard a brief commotion behind her and turned to see Barbossa pinning Jack, who was yelling at him, against a wall, his sword at Jack's neck. The only people who did not seem involved in anything were the Judge and Beadle, but they weren't helping either so it made very little difference that they were there at all. Everyone else was involved in quarrel and Cheshire had to try and make them get along.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three

"Okay," Cheshire began, sighing. "First things first: you two."

She gave her attention to Jack and Barbossa.

"Why are you acting like little boys? Your constant arguing is not attractive."

They looked down guiltily. Barbossa backed away and sheathed his sword. Jack ceased his shouting.

"Now, shake hands."

They stared at each other with matching expressions of disgust.

"It's this or heartfelt embraces!" Cheshire threatened.

The pair looked frightened for a moment and quickly shook hands. She turned to Sweeney next.

"Do you really want to kill her?"

"Yes," he replied.

Cheshire shook her head. "No, what I meant was you're usually able to just ignore her. Can't you do that, just for a bit?"

He thought about this.

Then she leaned in and whispered, "I'm sure you could think of so many more painful and agonizing ways for her to die, but they would all involve things that aren't here, correct?"

A disturbing smile crept onto his face and he released Mrs Lovett and Toby, who ran to hug his "mum". Now, there was the "mad" group.

"There's always tea!" she announced to them.

They cheered up instantaneously. Three down, two to go. She would deal with the wizards and witches in a moment as they were probably going to be the hardest to calm. Oh, well. At least they weren't wildly throwing curses around trying to kill each other. That was a bit odd really, as Bellatrix was in the room, but...that was inconsequential now. Cheshire moved over to Norrington and Beckett.

"James, is it really right to kill him? Wouldn't that weight on your conscience heavily? You're a good man and wouldn't deliberately bring about someone's death, right?"

"At the moment, I'm holding this weapon for self defense," he said.

"Oh, yes, I can understand that. Well," she changed her target to Beckett. "If you kill him you'll just be killing another man in the King's service."

"I know," replied Beckett.

Apparently, he didn't care. Well, we'd have to change that...or not.

"There's always tea!" Cheshire exclaimed.

"Oh, yes, there is isn't there?" he said, putting his pistol away.

Cheshire smiled. "And now there's just this rather large group isn't there?"

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Sweeney about to cut Judge Turpin's throat and Mrs Lovett trying to hold Beadle Bamford back from helping him.

"Mr Todd!" Cheshire shouted warningly.

Sweeney glanced at her and put his razor back in it's holster yet again. The Judge backed away from him and Mrs Lovett moved away from the Beadle.

"Alright, Harry, Ron, Herm-"

Before Cheshire could finish her thought, a flashing blue light came through the window to the backyard. She saw a police call box take shape on her back lawn. When it solidified, a man wearing a trench coat over a three piece suit and trainers stepped out of it. Cheshire ran out into the sunlight of her porch to greet the person.

"Doctor, thank god you're here," she said.

"Aw, thanks. I find everyone says it eventually, but it's nice to have it up front," he said with a charming grin.

"Yes, well, I'm having a bit of a predicament in there and I need someone who's good at negotiating with people."

"Right, show me the problem."

She led him into the house and no further, as the problem was rather apparent.

"This is it, then?"

Cheshire nodded.

"No aliens who are stealing people through televisions?"

"No."

"No, time windows?"

"No."

"Not even daleks?"

"Especially not daleks, thank god."

"But, I was looking forward to a challenge. Well, not every job can be fun," he shrugged.

The entire magical group had noticed him and gave him an inquiring look together.

"Barty Crouch, Jr?" they all asked.

"Who?" the Doctor asked, his eye brows raised. "Ah, well, doesn't matter. You four."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dobby turned to him.

"You seem nice enough. They are evil, right?" he said pointing to the Death Eaters and their master.

"Yeah," answered Ron.

"But, wouldn't killing them reduce you to their level. Some people might consider you evil after that."

"He's right, you know," Cheshire interjected.

"Good point," said Harry. "But, if we put our wands down now, they'll kill us."

"I'm getting to that," the Doctor replied. "Now, do you really have the heart to kill teenagers?"

Snape and Wormtail put down their wands. Voldemort and Bellatrix remained as still as stone, their wands pointed directly at Harry's and Hermione's hearts.

"Really? You do?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes," Bellatrix answered. "I'd be thrilled to kill Potter."

"Potter? Oh, you're that Harry Potter person in those books!"

Harry looked confused.

"Um, Doctor, he doesn't know about JK Rowling," Cheshire said.

"No? That's a shame. She really knows how to write. Anyway, I've got no idea how to stop those two," he said."Okay, well...wouldn't it be more fun-er-better to kill them on their own turf?" said Cheshire.

Bellatrix and Voldemort exchanged expressions which said, "What is she talking about?"

"You know, Hogwarts?"

"Oh, that would be good," said Voldemort.

He and Bellatrix put their wands away, but everything was still tense. It was very uncomfortable to say the least. Everyone just stood waiting for someone to say something to break the ice that had formed after the fighting. Cheshire was attempting to come up with something, but the only thing coming to mind was a stupid similarity between Sweeney and Bellatrix. If somebody didn't break the silence soon though...

"Look! You both have holsters! It's something to bond over!"

All eyes in the room were on Cheshire as she ran to her bedroom, so she could be alone for five minutes to collect her thoughts. Actually, it might take ten minutes. After she left, things got a bit better mainly thanks to a comment by the Doctor:

"Oh, look! She's right."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four

It was very nice to breathe after the never ending barrage of problems. True, she knew there would be some issues, but she couldn't have imagined that things would be this bad. Plopping down on her bed and closing her eyes, she was about to take a nice little rest (Gee, she's tired, isn't she?), but fate did not have that in store for her.

"I've brought gift baskets!" cried a male voice in a high register.

"Wiggins!" Cheshire said, leaping from her bed and landing lightly on her feet in front of her newest guest.

Finally, she was elated to see a guest. Wiggins was always good fun and never caused any problems. In fact, sometimes he solved them with his near pointless commentary. Comedic relief could be no sweeter than him. She shook his hand warmly. As she did this, she noticed that there were a pair of eyes and a grin with no body floating over Wiggins' head.

"And the Cheshire Cat. We could definitely suffer to have a bit more calm here, even if it is insane."

"Is there a place where I can set these down?" Wiggins asked.

"Yes. I see you have four. Well, there are four people out there, all wearing black. They look a bit sinister, but they're actually really nice," Cheshire coughed, nearly killing herself calling Voldemort and his Death Eaters nice. "Give them each a gift basket. They need them the most."

"Okay!"

Wiggins trotted out, the Cheshire Cat still sitting happily on his head. Cheshire followed them, but was stopped near the laundry room by a strong wind filled with purple glitter. The source was the Goblin King, Jareth, who was standing, Peter Pan style, in the garage door frame. He looked rather pleased with his dramatic entrance.

"There has to be a cleaner way for you to show up," she sighed.

"Yes, but that wouldn't be as fun, would it?" he grinned in rather charming fashion.

"It makes more work for me, so it's really not as fun."

"Now, Cheshire, if you didn't want my glitter and I, why did you invite us for tea?" he smirked.

"You do have a point, I suppose. Well, come in," Cheshire sighed.

"Gladly."

As he swept past her, she couldn't help, but think, "Seriously, is that a sock?"

She trotted after him into the living room and prepared to make an announcement. She signaled for Barbossa and the the Doctor to come stand next to her. They did.

"Could the two of you please get everyone's attention?"

They did.

"Everyone! Fingers on lips!"

Half of the crowd silenced.

"Shut up, you poxy curs!"

The other half complied. The Doctor gave him an odd look.

"That's good. Where'd you learn that?"

Barbossa just grunted in response.

"Alright, everybody, if you would all please take a seat at the table. You'll see there's a notecard at each place indicating who will sit where. Don't worry; you're all next to someone I'm pretty sure you don't or won't hate. I took extra care in that. You will all be happy in your seating, I'm sure. Food and drink will be out in a moment."

Finally, the party could start.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Five

The seating arrangement was actually compatible. Though, when she had done it, Cheshire had thought it would be good, so many other things had been crazy that she wasn't really sure of anything she had set up. Thankfully, all were happy. Cheshire sat at one end of the table with Jack on her right side. He sat next to Toby, Mrs Lovett, and Sweeney, who sat next to Beckett, Judge Turpin, and Beadle Bamford. Next to them were Wormtail, Snape, Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Jareth. At the other end sat the Doctor. After him were Hermione, Ron, and Harry, and Dobby, Wiggins, and the Cheshire Cat, who sat on Wiggins' head as opposed to chair. Beside them were the Doormouse, the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and Norrington and Barbossa, who completed the oval-rectangle-shaped-thingy at Cheshire's left.

All of the food was already on the table and the Mad Hatter and March Hare had been kind enough to distribute the main beverage. The way in which they did it disturbed a few people, though, including Beadle Bamford and Bellatrix. Hm, she enjoyed torturing others, but was bothered by two crazy creatures dancing on a table, serving tea. Cheshire noticed Mrs Lovett looking at her cup skeptically as it was set down by the Hare in front of her, while Sweeney hardly did anything at all. He had experience ignoring crazy people. Snape glared at his cup as though it was a piece of garbage. Jack was already busing spiking his with alcohol from a flask he had brought with him, which Norrington scoffed at. The only ones who enthusiastically accepted their drinks were Wiggins and Dobby, who were getting along famously.

Speaking of which, everybody seemed to be getting on well. That was a good thing because the chairs were all squished together to fit everyone at the table. Jack and Toby were comparing rum and gin and Mrs Lovett was half listening and half staring at Sweeney, perfectly happy just to be sitting so close to him. Sweeney was actually paying a bit of attention to her to help him ignore Beckett, who was droning on about how glad he was that he had been seated next to a person of equal status, which the Judge was agreeing to adamantly. The Beadle was giving Wormtail tips on how to dress better in a friendly sort of way and Wormtail was trying to internalize it so he wouldn't forget and Snape was sitting barely talking. Bellatrix, of course was devoting herself wholly to a conversation she was having with Lord Voldemort, though he seemed a teeny tiny bit scared. It was almost as if, at any moment, he would say, "Look, if I want an heir, I'll call you. I know how to contact you." Jareth was checking out Bellatrix, though, he didn't look obvious. He was also having a discussion with the Doctor and Hermione about theories regarding time and magic, while the prior examined one of Jareth's crystal balls and Hermione's wand and beaded hand bag, which had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it. Ron and Harry were talking about Quidditch (typical) and Dobby was admiring the gift baskets Wiggins had brought, which the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord and piled on a nearby chair, while the Cheshire Cat grinned at all of the guests from its perch. The Doormouse, March Hare, and Mad Hatter were happily chattering away and enjoying their refreshments. Norrington and Barbossa were getting along, possibly, best of all. They had never met in the movies, but their mutual dislike for Jack and intelligence made them good companions. Cheshire was speaking to Mrs Lovett, to whom Sweeney looked more than talked, but was interrupted every once in a while by Barbossa and Jack vying for attention from her. Everything was just as Cheshire had wanted. After all of the confusion and late cleaning and late not cleaning, she had finally gotten her party.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Six

When all of the tea (and, in some cases, liquor) was drunk and all the biscuits eaten, it was time for all the guests to leave. However, before any of them left there was one, very important task that Cheshire had to carry out; brainwashing every single party guest, save the Doctor. He was used to stranger things than this. And, of course, she needed his help.

"If everyone could please make an orderly single file line, we can all go on our ways faster," she announced.

No one objected to getting on with their lives sooner rather than later. In thirty seconds flat, there was a string of people in front of she and the Doctor.

"Doctor, if you don't mind," Cheshire said, gesturing to the first person in line: Mrs Lovett.

"Alright, Nellie, here we go," said the Doctor raising his screwdriver level with her forehead.

"Hang on!" she protested.

"Don't worry, it's completely painless; you won't feel a thing. There'll just be a short blackout and you'll be back to normal," he assured her, comfortingly.

"I know, it's just...well," she hesitated, but went on in a whisper. "Mr T hasn't shown me this much kindness in a while and...I, sort of...want to hold on to the memory for just another moment."

Cheshire smiled and patted her back. The Doctor nodded and motioned for Sweeney to come forward. He did so and there was a blue light on his head before a flash indicating that he was gone. Mrs Lovett stared in awe.

"Where'd he go?"

"Oh, yeah, we forgot to tell you that we'll transport you back to your homes," said Cheshire.

She nodded and stepped back in front of the Doctor.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

There was a flash and then she, too was gone.

The same process went on with everyone, although the rest were less emotional.

When, at the end of the line, Barbossa and Norrington were next, the emotion came back a bit.

"Can we at least remember that we met and liked each other?" asked Norrington.

"Please," Barbossa added, looking Cheshire straight in the eyes.

She turned to the Doctor.

"I'm afraid I can't be selective about this. I don't know how to pick and choose memories, you know."

They both sighed.

"Fine, let's get this over with," Norrington said, electing to go first.

"It was nice talking with you," Barbossa said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"And with you."

There was a flash and the Lieutenant-Commodore-Admiral was gone.

After another burst of light Barbossa disappeared, too.

"Well, Doctor, thanks for the help and for coming. I hope you had a good time," Cheshire said.

"Oh, yes! So, many interesting humans with so many fascinating gadgets. It was great!"

"That's good. Take care."

"Goodbye, Cheshire," said the Doctor.

With that, he stepped into the TARDIS, which, once the door was shut, promptly faded into time. Cheshire went back into her house, grabbed a fudgsicle, and dropped down in front of the television to watch travel shows. At the commercial break she got to thinking and from the many thoughts that crossed her mind she extracted one. It was the one that seemed the best, the singular, the most important thought there was regarding her eventful day.

"I've got to stop inviting scary people to tea."

And so she did.


End file.
